Jenaya Wade-Fray’s Standard Life Great Britain Women's Basketball head coach Tom Maher will demand further improvements from his side in the Tournoi 4 Nations in Liege this weekend.
After a narrow defeat to Croatia on Tuesday, Maher will now engage in further fine tuning against Germany, Ukraine and hosts Belgium in the coming days.
Great Britain, based on their record from 2011, will target victory against three countries that will be attempting to qualify for EuroBasket 2013 later this summer.
However Maher's focus for now is squarely on taking gradual steps forward en route to the Olympic Games.
"Right now, our toughest opponent is ourselves," he said. "That's who we're worrying about most. We want to be playing better basketball every game. I don't really care who we're playing, whether it's Germany or the USA, it doesn't matter.
"I just want to make the best use of the time we have out there together."
There were real signs of promise in the second of two meetings with the powerful Croats earlier in the week when GB had opportunities to win but ultimately came up short by just three points.
Temi Fagbenle, the young London-born centre who attends Harvard University, demonstrated her immense potential. While the entire front court stood tall despite the absence of the injured Kim Butler.
Giving up 48 points in a single half was the major blemish, Maher asserts. But these are still early days in the long preparation campaign for London 2012.
"The trick now is to get all the pieces in the right place," he said. "We want to get our style of play out there every day because that's how we have to operate.
"When you don't have superstars, you have to get the system going. We can't afford to make mistakes. We need people in the right place at the right time."
Germany is Great Britain's first opponent on Friday evening in what will be the team's 100th international match.
